## Chapter 1071 – #254_Rage, Purity, Greed (3)
#1065
1.
Exiles generally dislike Gehenna.
They also look askance at the witches within.
If you go as far as a public figure belonging to the fundamentalist faction among the witch-doctrine exiles, their hostility is beyond words.
An opportunist who, backed by Duke Keter, has seized the most vested interests in the entire witch society.
A vested power that monopolizes the lucrative businesses of the present world and drives public figures to the second and third worlds.
A renegade who has abandoned the path of magic, the duty of a witch, and has opened her eyes to ambiguous humanism.
However, despite these complaints and sharp public opinions, Gehenna was too powerful an enemy to confront.
It is the same reason why the New Qliphoth, which had seized power since the founding of Hexennacht, naturally handed over its position to the Solidus Trading Company.
Now, the Solidus Trading Company does not insist on the hegemony of the ‘moderate faction,’ but realistically, it would have to endure too much damage to wield the ‘Never War!’ card like Qliphoth.
Lydia Magnus dug into that part to seize power in Hexennacht.
Somewhere between inferiority, awe, helplessness, and hostility.
“Shit.”
Lydia felt a tingling in the back of her neck.
The point was a precarious tightrope walk between Gehenna’s unique laziness and Hexennacht’s unique belligerence.
While showing a blow to Gehenna and relieving Hexennacht’s sense of defeat, she doesn’t actually cross the line too deeply.
The goal was to eat and run, using Gehenna’s characteristic of maintaining a moderate hostile relationship but remaining a bystander in most situations.
Of course, Lydia’s essence is greed.
She had no intention of living with her head bowed forever.
If time passed, the size of Hexennacht grew, Lydia’s influence expanded, and the time came when she could try to compete, she had the ambition to wage even a war, if not a full-scale war, at least a local one.
“But that’s not now!”
Lydia writhed like a salt-sprinkled slug, clutching her proud blonde hair.
It was the coarse salt that Herya had generously sprinkled.
It was also the Solidus Trading Company that brought them into Hexennacht to temporarily seal the dispute with the Rehar Group.
It was also the Solidus Trading Company that used them like limbs since Hexennacht was created.
Although Shin Siwoo’s machinations completely twisted the relationship between the Rehar Group and the Solidus Trading Company, at least on the surface, the Rehar Group is a subcontractor exclusively for Solidus.
Such a Rehar Group attacked Gehenna.
From Gehenna’s point of view…
Gehenna: ?
Solidus: ?
Gehenna: What are you guys doing?
Solidus: It wasn’t me.
Gehenna: You bastard, the Rehar Group is your lackey.
Solidus: Huh? I told you it wasn’t me.
Gehenna: These bastards, I let them go with the location points, but they dare to attack the main base? You’re fucking dead.
…That’s what it is.
Honestly, this is a problem that Lydia can solve if she fully demonstrates her abilities.
Although some public figures infiltrated Gehenna and a few smuggling ships sank, there was no other major damage.
It’s not enough to say it’s a declaration of war.
If she quietly had a secret talk with Duke Erelim through a hotline, promised compensation, and cut off the relationship between the Rehar Group and the Solidus Trading Company externally, it could have been glossed over.
The problem is that the latter is now impossible.
“For the great archmage Lydia Magnus!”
“Kya! That’s so refreshing!”
“The Witch of Gold is a real badass, I knew she would do this someday!”
“The future of Hexennacht rests on Lydia’s shoulders.”
As mentioned earlier, most of the Hexennacht witches dislike Gehenna.
Hexennacht, having heard the news, was instantly in a festive mood.
“Hey, hey, Lydia, she’s done something big, hasn’t she?”
“Kuh…! She’s a bitch, but I’ll admit it this time.”
“I thought she was a bat who only knew how to test the waters, but she was surprisingly a proper public figure.”
Even the witches belonging to the New Qliphoth, which was in a rival relationship with the Solidus Trading Company, praised Lydia’s achievement.
As soon as the news spread, witches who wanted to get in line with the Solidus Trading Company lined up.
No matter how much Lydia thought, ‘Stop it, you crazy bitches!’, the flow of public opinion has no intention of changing.
She had pissed on the face of the disliked Gehenna, so it was natural that Lydia was ranked first as the ‘Most Likable Witch Selected by Hexennacht’.
Second place was Herya.
In this atmosphere, could she say, ‘Um… actually, it wasn’t my plan, but Herya and I fought, and Herya attacked Gehenna on her own? To screw me over?’
Could she say, ‘Herya did something stupid, and I have nothing to do with it’?
Could she say, ‘You know this is all the Rehar Group’s doing, right? I don’t want to fight Gehenna!’?
She can’t.
The political backlash that would come from doing so is beyond prediction.
Lydia, who had emerged as a hero of Hexennacht, would crash down with a sharp downward curve.
Starting with the labels of traitor, coward, and turncoat, they would make a huge fuss.
“Ah….”
That simple-minded Herya saw this far and did a bomb pass.
It was a result that Lydia could not have predicted at all.
Gehenna had not yet made any statements or responses.
However, she received intelligence that the highest decision-making body of Gehenna, the Tree of Sephirot, had convened a general meeting.
The city they would define as an enemy would be Hexennacht, the group would be the Solidus Trading Company, and the person would be none other than Lydia.
“Secretary.”
“Yes.”
“Gather the executives. All of them.”
Lydia made up her mind.
It was too late to throw the bomb that had been forcibly passed to her somewhere.
In the end, she had to tie up the loose ends with her own hands.
Lydia took out the secret communication network she had used when she traded with Duke Erelim.
2.
The internal reaction to the Gehenna attack was sharply divided into two factions.
“If we’ve been attacked, we have to pay them back. How much did they look down on us to do such a thing?”
“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”
“We need to reaffirm to them that Gehenna’s reputation is not in vain.”
Unusually for Gehenna, there was a lot of aggressive public opinion.
Although they were witches who had been bystanders even when there were large-scale attacks on location points around the world, this incident was different.
Regardless of the scale of the damage, they had crossed the ‘gate’ and attacked the mainland.
There was an angry outcry in the conference hall that they should pay the price for it.
“It’s premature. It is best to distinguish the enemy, clearly identify the target of punishment, and then retaliate.”
Blocking this were the elder witches of the Truth and True Name Academic Conference, led by Duke Erelim.
The old, orthodox witches tried to judge the situation a little more calmly.
“Then are you going to stand by and watch the wicked public figures make a fool of Gehenna? This time it ended with stepping on the threshold, but what about next time? If we’re indecisive, can you guarantee what kind of nonsense the arrogant Hexennacht will do?”
“It’s not that we’re going to overlook it. However, we need to distinguish the enemy accurately. If we take action at a time when the distinction between friend and foe is not clear, and a full-scale war breaks out. Whose responsibility will that be?”
“If we are seen as weak by the enemy and additional attacks follow, whose responsibility is that?”
“Enough.”
The murmuring in the conference hall subsided at Duke Erelim’s solemn declaration.
“I have something to say.”
Countess Cagliostro, the only head of the academy who could be compared to her at the present time when Duke Keter had disappeared, declared neutrality on this matter.
Therefore, the future course of action of Gehenna was very likely to be determined by her decision.
“Let’s make sure to dispose of the culprit of this incident, the Rehar Group. However, there is no need to provoke Hexennacht any further.”
Naturally, many frowned.
“Isn’t it a problem that can be solved by just cutting off the tail when there is clearly a mastermind behind it?”
Nevertheless, the opposition was very cautious.
It was not only because she was the head of a large academy.
It was also out of respect for the sacrifices and contributions that Duke Erelim, who had lived for over a thousand years, had made for the development of Gehenna.
“I’ll take care of the Rehar Group myself. Is that okay?”
“……”
“We just need to let the enemy know that they cannot underestimate the power we possess. There is no need to rummage through the bushes and make a snake come out.”
It was already well known that Duke Erelim had been worried about direct conflict with Hexennacht.
It was also known that it was not because she was afraid of fighting, but because she wanted to avoid a situation where she would have to endure a great loss for no reason.
However, in a situation where there were many opinions that punishment should be given, no one was willing to take the lead.
Since Duke Erelim had stepped forward to settle this matter herself, there was no major backlash.
At least in front of them.
“Damn it. Just let them get along with the public figures.”
“Why has she been so passive since before? I don’t understand.”
“I can’t accept it.”
“Me too, we need to show them what we’re made of this time.”
Some witches disobeyed Duke Erelim’s declaration and tried to gather their strength to attempt their own ‘retaliation’.
3.
Around this time, when a volatile atmosphere was formed between Hexennacht and Gehenna.
The lowest level of Hexennacht, Dignity Town, was drunk with the refreshing victory.
Hexennacht is a vertical city.
The lower you go towards the lower floors where the ‘gate’ is located, the lower the town.
Many witches with relatively weak power and low hierarchy lived here.
It is natural that the weaker you are, the more you get pushed around.
The resentment of the Dignity Town witches towards Gehenna far exceeded that of the upper towns.
“Gehenna cowards. They can’t do anything, can they?”
“Long live Empress Lydia! Send her to the National Assembly!”
“I was really having a hard time…. Every day, I had my businesses taken away and was kicked out by those bitches from Gehenna….”
“Who are we? The citizens of Great Hexennacht.”
“Honestly, isn’t Gehenna afraid of us?”
The daily frenzy of parties due to Gehenna’s silence without any response even two days after the incident.
-Wooong!
At that time, a huge wave of magical power, slightly different from usual, reverberated from the ‘gate’.
The witches who were making a fuss in the pub overlooking the gate and the pier also became quiet for a moment.
As they were all witches, they realized that the waveform that spread when the ‘gate’ was activated was different from the vibration just now.
“What is it? Did only I feel it? It’s a little different from usual?”
“Hey, it’s nothing. Are you scared?”
-Wiiiiiiiiing!
However, soon a sharp warning sound like an air raid alarm began to be heard throughout Dignity Town.
At this point, even the public figures whose brains had been paralyzed by the victory liquor would have a rough idea.
“Wh, what is it? Is it an attack? Gehenna?”
“War! It’s war!”
The wide-eyed witches, each in a panic, turned their gaze towards the gate.
A huge gate with a diameter of 2 km.
The axis of the city that controls the entry and exit of Hexennacht.
In the middle of it, there is something like a dark spot that cannot be seen normally.
A black knight wearing black armor all over his body and holding a red branch in his hand.
And next to him, a green-haired witch wearing a witch’s hat askew, holding a fancy wand.
